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In September, I got married. and it was the most incredible day ever. I have a lot to say about it but I’m waiting until I have one more piece… our wedding video. As a blogger and someone interested in recording our lives in some digital form, a journal of sorts – this blog… {possibly a new domain / name some day as I transition into being on a team}… I’m basically bursting @ the seams to blog about all the details and share it in the webspace for friends & family to experience. Some things just are worth the wait, you know? xx

In the meantime, i have a lot on my mind. And it basically has to do with what our time here on earth is made of. Deep, I know, but get to it… and this is my blog. A bit before we went to Hawaii (next post!), I’d been doing a lot of soul-searching. Life is so incredibly short… what do I want to make up my time while I’m here?

My now husband (eek!), showed me this video when we were lounging on Maui and I think the world needs to watch it, if they haven’t already. And if you have? Watch it again. And make your loved ones watch it. Put your life into perspective and consider with what you’re spending your 24 hours each day doing.

Um, whoa. I had a small internal panic attack when I watched that. Why didn’t someone show me that in high school? Freshman year?… When we were worried about the most trivial of things, stressed-out and drama-filled with events like Prom (who let me spend so much money on those high school formals?!… easily $5K… cringe).

As an adult, I’m trying to spend a bit of time each day reading sites like Quora or watching TED videos. To keep my brain fresh, keep it thinking. A few days ago, I read a question posted on Quora titled, “How can I thoroughly screw up my life.” Now, that’s a pretty deep inquiry. The answer, linked below, by Raqhav Upmanyu has many thoughts I align with. Especially now, as I’m in this phase of contemplation; wanting to shape my life in a way that brings fulfillment / happiness / experiences.

And I know this is entirely an opinion, so take everything he says with a grain of salt or whatever. But it’s a perspective I somewhat align with. It makes me think hard about what I want to make of my time left. He starts out saying the biggest mistake you can make is becoming a statistic and “settling for being a useless part of the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.” Me? I can’t live like that. I can’t be put through the motions and do a 9 to 5 in a cubicle and come out on the other end tired, stressed, lacking sleep, motivation and drive. That is exactly what I would turn into. And it’s not just in the business realm. I found myself watching the Oscars last night. At the end of it, I thought, ‘I just wasted 3 hours on something I don’t have any interest whatsoever in. I hadn’t seen a single movie that was nominated!? Emily, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I could have been designing cards for my etsy business, reading the book I can’t seem to get through, laughing & connecting with my beautiful mama, sorting through yet another bin of crap I’ve saved over the years with some thought of needing it in a future time (more on that purging process later).

All in all, I want to get down on paper that today is February 29, 2016, Leap Day, an extra day for free just cause. I’m committing to making whatever mindset I’m chasing a reality. I want to make this life fulfilling and get everything I can out of it. I want to do things I enjoy doing, that bring me happiness and flex my creative muscles. I want to travel as much as possible. I want to experience everything. I want to take chances. I want to love crazily. I don’t want to be stressed. I don’t want to be burnt out. I want to be fresh + real + alive. I want to laugh + be optimistic + positive for 95% of my life. And yes, this a ridiculously lofty, insane goal but why can’t I try to shoot for it? It’s worth it to me to try.

Please don’t take this post as me pointing fingers. This is my online space to speak what’s on my mind; this is what I want to capture. And have my kids read someday. Hopefully they’ll think their mother was the baddest woman that ever lived who strived to make the most of her existence.

If I could pick something, anything, that describes how I’m feeling currently. It would be this canvas bag from @sugarboodesigns

I’m going to give all credit to Carley on this one. She researched and booked the world’s most incredible brunch at Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley.

Let’s just say, this isn’t your standard 3-Michelin star restaurant. This place is, quite honestly, a friggin’ Swiss Family Robinson-style experience, complete with servers that have timed deliveries and round-table speeches to introduce each individual plate.

Our brunch took place outdoors on the wraparound deck overlooking California’s Napa Valley. I was half expecting to have chimpanzees swing onto our shoulders during the dessert course.

This is one of those, when in Rome, experiences – we all ordered a cocktail and cheers’ed to ending this first couple’s trip with a bang.

Bloody mary’s and mimosas all around! Of course, they were ordered using the table iPad in front of us.

The brunch menu looked a little like this. You choose a drink, a beginning, a sustenance, and a dessert.

By memory, Brett and I shared the half dozen oysters, the cow’s milk burrata with grilled radicchio, a Maine lobster omelet, a Kurobuto pork chop, and two fantastic desserts from this menu.

I know for sure we choose the Chocolate Peanut Butter one, and I couldn’t guess what the second one was. Let’s just say they both rocked our socks off. Finish up with a little cappuccino and we are ready to see that bill, server!

Somewhere along the lines of $700 and vacation, we didn’t care what this meal cost. Once in a lifetime, eating on a beautifully exotic deck overlooking Napa, with some of the best friends life could give us.

We took one more pano picture and all piled into the cars. Windows down, wind whipping our hair all over the place. We took the scenic route home. Along the rolling vineyards of Napa, promising ourselves we’ll be back some day.

We stopped at the nearby grocery store on the way to Oliviera, to pick up dinner supplies (I know, we just had brunch… but we didn’t want to have to drive again once we got home.) We taste-tested some frosting, picked up some grilling materials and a quinoa salad or two – then we headed back.

The rest of our last full day in paradise was spent laughing, listening to music, jumping in the hot tub, grilling and playing Cards Against Humanity.

Without going into the details of our sad goodbyes the next morning, let’s just say this trip was a terrific first couple’s trip – one we won’t soon forget.

Where will the next one take us? Locations we have thrown around : Hawaii, Colorado Backcountry, to the coast of North Carolina…

The world really is our oyster. And traveling in groups allows for a more exotic lodging experience since we’re splitting it 8+ ways…

Thank you for a truly memorable trip : Carley & AJ, Katie & Scott, Molly & Chris, and the best traveler I know and love, Brett

We wake up with barely a hangover. Win! Refuel with a little morning java and enjoy our patio before getting ready for the day and more importantly, before our limo arrives.

Since we already had a mug of coffee down the hatch. We figured it’s time to get the party started.… poppin’ bottles. Before you get worried about our alcohol intake, please remember, the whole point of renting a limo for this trip was the sole fact that we planned to be inebriated. As classy and sophisticated as we could… but definitely not sober.

Our first stop is one that we highly recommend for those visiting the Sonoma area.

St. Francis Winery & Vineyard. We scheduled their Food & Wine Pairing experience for 11am on a Friday afternoon filled with sunshine and cool breezes. This vineyard is built on some beautiful landscape (aren’t they all?) A very popular place for people to get married. Gorgeous mountains in the background.

The pairing took place inside a lovely structure, the doors open to the fresh air outside. There were two tables positioned half-circle style with the seating on the outside of the curves. The wine experts walked through and around as they introduced each pairing.

Each place setting had a leather-bound portfolio with the menu details & a notepad to write tasting notes in. I vaguely remember doodling hilarious stick figure pictures and Bob Marley quotes on mine… at one point during the experience, Brett looks over and exclaims, “My feet feel like cotton!” He is entirely enjoying himself, on top of the dosage of DayQuil (for his head cold) taken 30 minutes prior. It’s amazing what a little vino and a little acetaminophen will do to ignite the senses!

To be honest, I don’t even remember what all we had {so zoom in on this picture & read it!} Nevertheless, it’s true when they say pairing wine with a specific food enhances the flavors, it really works! The whole experience was a delight. Something we would do again in a heart beat.

Back in the limo we go. The next stop, Ledson Winery and Vineyards. Originally, it was being built as a home, with 17 acres of Merlot planted on the grounds. But as the structure was built, and the public became more interested, they ended up turning it into a vineyard and tasting room. (well played Ledson clan!) The structure is built with a French Normady-esque style, 16,000 square feet of woodwork and marble staircases. Never missing the opportunity for a photo op, we enjoyed the front garden area with beautiful white roses and fountains.

Their tasting room had wood floors and a beautiful bar area. We sidled up and started to learn about their vines. Little breadsticks were my saving grace as we sipped and sipped some more.

After the tasting, we bought a bottle and went out back on their patio. Some of us took naps in the sun : star-fished on the ground & loving life {cough, Carley}. We toasted to friendship & love, as we looked at the rows of vines grown there. What a neat place to have a summer party or a murder mystery dinner!

A pretty spectacular roundup of the troops and we’re onto the next one! Benziger Family Winery for the win! This next one is a little blurry for me. Understandably so; three vineyards in and I’m reaching my limits.

We made a pit stop potty break upon arrival (extremely necessary says the girl with the squirrel-sized bladder). Then we hop on an extended golf cart for a tour of the vineyards. Our tour guide explained the wine-making process at their location and the background story of the family that built Benziger into what it is today.

I’ll be honest, a lot of what he said went in one ear and out the other. We stopped along the tour at a little wooden hut and cracked open a white bottle of wine. He served it to us in logo-etched wine glasses – nice touch.

Cool little place. Gorgeous farm animals to fertilize the soil. Fluffy, mop-headed cows and little baby goats. Ten points to Gryffindor for the golf cart ride, as I was not about hiking all over those poo-filled rows of vines.

The middle of the tour took us into the wine caves where, guess what we did?… had some more vino. It’s a lot of traveling small distances and then drinking wine. Rinse & repeat.

There was a really neat room deep into the cave that we all grabbed a spot at. It felt very Knights of the Roundtable-esque, with tapestries hanging on the wall and unique art pieces.

In the wine cave, I got in trouble for trying to snag some more breadsticks, but, please, this was a girl looking after herself! Atleast some part of my mind knew I needed water and food. Stat.

We circled around the vineyards on the golf carf and finished the tour in their Main Bar / Tasting Room. I couldn’t tell you what took place in that space. The next thing I remember is getting into the limo and somehow making it home in one piece.

Now, THAT was a tour of Sonoma.

Dinner plans were supposed to involve a bacon-infused local hotspot called Zazu, but we couldn’t make it happen. We grabbed a variety of chicken breasts and brats at the grocery store to grill-out instead. And it rocked our socks off.

We wake up and the boys cook some eggs. A nest egg, as Brett calls them.

We giggle and catch up on the deck. Overlooking the mountain and unreal landscape. All of a sudden, the limo is on it’s way and we are rushing to pull ourselves together.

The limo pulled into the gravel driveway and the driver hops out to introduce himself. He opens the back door and we all pile in. Champagne, soda, water… there were glass champagne glasses and bottle openers. Living the life!

On our way to the first vineyard, our driver recommends we pull into a Whole Foods-like grocery store and pick up some lunch, since we were headed a little into the countryside and wouldn’t have many options. We all hop out, grab sandwiches, pasta salads, hummus, and in Brett’s case, head cold materials.

Our first vineyard stop was Ferrari-Carrano. This place looked like it was fresh out of Alice in Wonderland. The grounds were landscaped to perfection. Freshly-cut grass, sculptures, fountains, and beautiful vineyards as far as the eye could see. The building itself was a marble, cream-colored structure with ornate railings and large windows. The tasting was held in the basement, a spot called the Prevail Room.

Our directions were to choose 4 or 6 different wines on a small paper menu. The wines were poured and the 8 of us sat at a large table underneath beautiful black, exotic lighting fixtures. Downstairs is where the large room of wine barrels are located as well.

After Ferrari-Carano, we hop back in the limo and head towards Bella Vineyard & Wine Cave. Both Katie and I had great reviews from friends about this vineyard and really wanted to make it work. We pulled into Bella and the limo driver popped the trunk. In the back he had flatware and every other material needed for a picnic. Cool! He spread out a tablecloth and we all munched on the grocery store grub. It was nice (& necessary!) to get something in our stomach.

A dog that lives on the grounds begged for food : made the experience that much more welcoming. AJ gathered wine glasses so we could have some vino while lunching.

After eats, we walked into this cave-style area that was nestled underneath a hill. Towards the back it was dark and cold, but lively and filled with people tasting wine around a little bar area. We grabbed a small table and tasted our way through the menu. This was a really cool little place with lots of personal touches. I could picture a gorgeous wedding reception being held on the grounds.

We all hopped back in the limo and headed back towards Oliviera. Some of us weren’t feeling too hot and took a cat nap while the vineyards rolled by the windows. Brett got a head cold and was desperately trying to sleep it off (or was it too much Zin?)

Back in Glen Ellen, we lounged and rehydrated. The boys jumped in the hot tub and the ladies mixed some drinks. Towards the evening time, we dressed up and headed towards The Girl and the Fig. A small, local restaurant with high ratings. I was impressed that they were so conscious of wasted water & drought in the area. Fresh olives (pitted & non) were waiting as a starter, yay! We dined on Fig and Arugula Salad, a Cucumber Soup, Burgers and Pork Chops. The food was delicious (& expensive!), but worth the splurge.

I cannot remember what was so funny, but Carley almost giggle / choked to death. Luckily, nurse AJ was seated next to her.

We headed back towards Oliviera, in a food coma. Driving up the dark, steep, winding mountain towards home. We gathered enough energy to play a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity before turning in for the night.

Our last morning in Vancouver! We showered and scrambled to get all of our clothes into our suitcases. All that Lululemon took up some extra space we weren’t expecting. Some Sitting on the Lid to Zip took place. Finally, we were off. Wheeling our heavy rollers down the streets of Vancouver once more. It’s nice the train station wasn’t more than a quarter mile from home base.

We boarded and snuggled into our seats. Part of the trip was giggling, the other part was playing our card game. It felt like Harry Potter… the train taking us through the green forests of Canada thru the US border. I hope’d there’d be a candy cart like in the movie series… but no luck. We found our way to the food car and grabbed breakfast : bagels and coffee

For whatever reason, I didn’t take a ton of pictures on the train. I did however, capture a First World Problem moment when Carla got a phone call from Bloomingdale’s requesting a payment for her La Mer bill. (love you!)

I didn’t take pics when we arrived in Seattle because I was too busy hugging my best girlfriends. We departed the train and those with flights leaving caught the tram from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac International Airport. Kates and I had the latest flights out so we spent the afternoon downtown.

First things first, I must explain that we had quite a bit of booze leftover from the weekend. In fact, peek at Kate’s bag… a little grab bag of everything… ergo, when in Rome.

We had sparkling water to mix and decided to make a few roadies. Don’t mind the fact that I did it behind closed doors. In the handicapped bathroom stall. At the train station. #winning

Downtown Seattle was bustling with activity. We had a taste testing (i.e. hydrating) stop at DRY Soda whose headquarters are in Seattle.

There had been a shooting a couple hours early – in typical Em & Kate fashion, we gawked and tried to get murder-scene photos. This was about as good as it got – I wonder if Time Magazine would want to purchase it… after all, there is an iconic Starbucks logo in view.

We found a tiny paper store on a corner called de Medici Ming – french for who knows what.

We weren’t supposed to take pictures, but of course I took one. A wall of wrapping paper, unique cards… we both got a journal and chatted with the little old lady who hand wrote our receipts.

We watched some music acts at Pike’s Place and sent a SnapChat to the ladies at the airport. Filling them in on our adventures thus far.

We grabbed sandwiches and seaweed wrapped rice rolls from Michou before we headed back in the direction of the tram.

One more selife to complete the adventure. The last two standing. Waiting on the tram platform to take us to SeaTac.

I’m going to miss Vancouver, Seattle, and all of the adventures we had. Each girl’s trip weekend brings new conversation, memory making, and new culinary discoveries. I’ll miss observing the mess that is E Hastings Street from a somewhat-safe distance. Observing the chaos life brings when you dabble in heavy drug use. This is as close as I will ever get to a drug overdose or anything even remotely along those lines.

I’m going to miss getting coffee-to-go and dancing in the streets. Giggling and taking the sights in. Dayshopping in Gastown and sampling pastries at Nelson the Seagull. Dining at The Lamplighter and watching coked-out Canadians holler inappropriate commentary at the top of their lungs only semi-fearing for our lives.

Let’s start with my first mistake. I assumed a domestic flight only required an hour of navigation time at our airport. My flight left at 7am, I woke up at 4:50am, I arrived to MSP at 5:50am. Being the tech-savvy girl I am, I’ve already checked in on my Delta app. All that’s left to do is drop my luggage at Baggage Drop and get thru security. Seems easy enough. I roll up to Baggage Drop (first bag checked free thanks to my Gold Delta Skymiles American Express), and I hoist my bag on the scale. Now, I’ve got a terrible judgment of weight. Just like I’m horrible at guessing height, age, and just about everything else that has to do with numbers. When I lifted that bag on the scale it felt like 75 pounds to me. Mentally, I was deciding which ten garments I would throw on as layers and walk like an abominable snowman thru the terminal. The Delta rep looks up and says, “Great! 44 pounds.” I was way off.

I continue on my way towards security and wait in the 60 person line. When there’s three people between me and the TSA rep, I go to launch my Delta app with my digital boarding pass. The app opens up, prompts me to reenter my email/Delta pin/last name – all of which I know six ways from Sunday and no matter how many times I try, the son-of-a will not log me in. I bow out of the security line like an incompetent traveler and I silently curse the App gods. I hard reset my phone, redownload the Delta app, then attempt to re-login. No dice. At this point, seeing as I’ll have to get back in at the end of the security line, I don’t have time to putz with being tech savvy. I’m doing this the old-fashioned way and speed walk to the Delta kiosk to get a paper copy. Pass obtained, back in line, get to the front, TSA let’s me thru, wait in line with my untied shoes and bag of liquids ready to go thru the laser beam scanner. I’m confident the rest of the day will go smoothly.

Wishful thinking. In front of the line is a heavyset middle-age woman with the largest piece of carry on luggage apparently having her first TSA experience. There’s an agent sifting through her stuff (before any laser beams have searched her bag or her person) and the rest of us watch while we give her the silent “WTF lady” look. The TSA agent takes out a full size bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and an extra large bottle of air spray (First Time Lady gets points for sharing my love of Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship hair care – but that’s all I’ll give her). TSA takes out a jar of peanut butter… which apparently now is deemed a liquid and must be taken out of checked luggage. TSA takes out a large bottle of cream, a Costco size toothpaste, and a half liter of mouthwash. She looks at the lady and says, “You do know you cannot have more than 6oz of liquid with you on a carry-on…?” And all of the liquid gets trashed. 1. What a waste. 2. If I were the TSA lady I would have said something more along the lines of, “Are you kidding me right now? We’re trying to streamline this process, if you don’t know what the process is – bring a guardian next time. You’re outta here!” and promptly kick her to the curb.

After that debacle, I get thru security in 4.5 seconds. As I’m redressing, I’m mentally mapping the MSP airport for where my gate is. I’m a tad crunched for time and just need someone to point me in the right direction so I can get in Emily Hightailing Mode. I ask a sweet young TSA girl with darker hair than mine where I could find Terminal F. She pointed one direction and off I went. Multitasking as I walk the way she directed. Trying to login to the Delta app, send an email, update the girls via iMessage and find a restroom at the same time. Trusting she knows the way around her workplace.

I get to the end of the corridor and there’s no Terminal F to be found. I slightly panic at this point as my flight has been boarding for about 10 minutes and I’m cutting it close. I turn around and look at signs. I see terminal A, B, C, D and E. no F. How much more clear could I be to the TSA bambino? Maybe I should have said – F as in Frank. F as in football. F as in… get me the F*#% on the plane already!!!

I turn in the direction I came and start a slow jog. There are many levels of running so we’ll call this a Level 2 of 10. I’m not quite at Home Alone running speed (thank God). But I’m definitely dodging and weaving thru strollers and groups of traveling Asian students taking pictures of God knows what.

Terminal F! There you are you little shit! Right where I got thru security. I find my door at F13 and all my plane neighbors are milling about – maybe 15 people left. The beauty of this is I normally prefer to be the last one on. Now that I’m checking my bag (for free), I don’t have to worry about fighting for space and laying a smack down on anyone to stow my would-be checked bag that I’m too cheap to check for $25 (tongue twister?). I take a deep breath, chuckle to myself, and contemplate sidling up to the bar next to my gate and ordering a double scotch with no chaser. Then I realized I don’t remember what kind of scotch I like. And at my luck (and extremely small bladder) I’ll be squished next to a heifer and desperate to use the restroom 5x on my three hour flight.

I’m the last to board my plane, and it turns out I snagged an Exit Row seat. I always choose window seats for the view but this one just so happened to be the very first row when you enter the plane. As you can see in the picture, there’s plenty of room for activities! It’s like God was all, ‘sorry for the shitshow morning, Em! I didn’t have my java yet.’ I hoped for a second there’d be a jumbo mug of mimosa and eggs Benedict delivered to me shortly thereafter. (No such thing in Coach).

It’s ironic this was my seat, as the flight attendant confirmed with us we were comfortable helping others in the event of an emergency. I replied in the affirmative, and then glanced at the audience seated behind me. There are a lot of 200 and 250 pounders on this flight. I highly doubt I could lift one of them, but who knows. I suppose I could try to yell loudly and direct traffic. Or grab a few of the little ones and baby monkey them to safety.

Negative emergency thoughts aside. The floor in front of us has room for two adults to Indian wrestle. But my seatmate passed out 3 minutes into the flight. My next idea was to lead the commoner (I.e. Coach) cabin in a nice 90-minute sunrise yinyasa flow yoga session. I am wearing a full yoga outfit after all…

An hour into the flight, the cabin door is blowing some seriously cold air my way. I bundle up and hunker down for the long haul. Rarely am I cold so I feel blessed, once again.

I arrived in Seattle, the first of the girls to touchdown at 8am. I’m on a mission to find a bar and order a Bloody Mary. Stat.

Traveling, friends, adventures, running, good food, lovers, family, my dog, memories, experiences, and laughing. I place a high value on traveling and friendship. It may seem as though I just came back from Scottsdale due to my delayed blog posts but I really came back July 1st. Bright and early tomorrow I will fly to Seattle, explore a little, then we take a train to Vancouver, BC for….drum roll please…… THE FOURTH ANNUAL GIRL’S TRIP!!

This is now feeling 150% like a tradition that will take place each year. My closest high school girlfriends and I. Meeting up in a city (domestic or international) for a long weekend of girl talk, mimosas, laughter and memory making.

This time we’re flying in from Minnesota, Arizona, Florida and Colorado to meet in the rainy city of Seattle. Then venturing by train up to the most beautiful city I’ve imagined myself owning a home in – Vancouver.

The upcoming weekend is Lululemon’s SeaWheeze Half Marathon and we are all running it. Combine an adventure with friends, laughing, good food, AND running… I’m content and in the best frame of mind.

Some people like to spend money on new fur coats, high heels, expensive $50 mascara that still smears all over after jumping in the water… some people even buy $6 lattes each morning. But me? I like to spend my money on travel. On adventures. On spending time with people I love in different corners of the world.

We slept in as long as we could before we had to get rolling. Carley was the first flight out and we wanted to catch breakfast at Arcadia Farms first. This sweet cafe is right out of Little House on the Prairie. Wood floor, red doors, cute art on the wall. It felt like going to a grandma’s house who knew how to interior decorate properly.

In typical best friend’s fashion, we each ordered a Kir Royal to toast our remarkably great weekend. While we recapped and perused the menu, our waitress dropped off a small plate of mini scones to nibble on.

This was one of those spots where anything you ordered off the menu would be amazing. I debated between the Fresh Berry Crepes and the Breakfast Panini. The panini won: scrambled egg with rosemary ham and smoked mozzarella on a baguette.

Next, we had to hustle to make Carley’s departure time… never a dull moment! Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is a city in itself, tons of terminals, north side, south side, ramps and overpasses. Katie is a ninja navigating that space!

After dropping Carley off, we decided against our better judgment to a little hiking on Camelback Mountain in the 115 degree heat. Plenty of water, working cell phones, crazy sports bra straps and sunglasses – we set off. It got hotter and hotter as we climbed and pretty soon we made the executive decision that we were sweating faster than we could replenish with water, and that a descent was the best option.

The rest of my afternoon, I dipped in the pool and packed up all of my things. We stopped off at Sprinkles to pick up some goodies for the folks at home and I found my way to my gate.

More than one time this weekend – Carley and I promised we would be back again next year for another long weekend in the hot box. There’s nothing like 4 days with your best friends to really refocus on what’s important in life. Friendships, memories, laughter, and not taking ourselves too seriously.

Good morning sweat box! We woke up and got our daily caffeine fix at Village Coffe Roastery. Dirty Iced Chais and a pistachio muffin. Both of which we’d all vouch for. There was a small shelf for the locals to store their coffee mugs (kinda like beer mugs being kept in lockers in beer halls of Germany). Cool location, great coffee, definitely gave us some energy! Next up : SPIN! One of the first times I visited Scottsdale – Kates exposed me to this exercise phenomenon called Spin. But down here, they do it WAY differently than I’ve been used to. The room is black, blacklights, concert-volume mixed pop music, and everyone is 110% balls to the wall. You leave dripping with sweat, feeling like you just scaled a mountain and conquered world peace after 60-minutes. We took spin at the Madison Improvement Club. It’s a swanky spin/yoga boutique with a modern health cafe on the inside. You even have the option to preorder your food before your class so it’s ready and waiting for you to inhale afterwards. Yesterday was Orange Theory and today was Spin… let’s just say our thighs and quads were on FIRE. Like literally on fire. The music was excellent, the instructor faced us and called people out over the eardrum blasting noise to “sprint! sprint! spring!” At the end of the class, on a normal, non-Hell temperature day, they open up the front wall to a gorgeous view of Camelback Mountain. We were thankful they kept the doors closed this time around. Our refueling took place at a great place in Old Town Scottsdale called Chop Shop. Are you getting the theme of a Scottsdale visit? Workout, REALLY hard, and eat at REALLY awesome restaurants! Cardio, fuel. Spin, brunch. It’s a cycle (ha!) and we love it! At Chop Shop I had the Zen Bowl: scrambled eggs, spinach, mushrooms, onions, white cheddar and brown rice. Ah-may-zing. We dined outside under the misters and gradually live was returned to our legs.
After refueling, we ran a few errands. Katie dropped her iPhone and completely shattered the screen. Is this a sign she’s on it too much? 😉

It was time for a dip in the pool. Two hours of pool to be exact. After we cooled down, we showered, made a few drinks for the road and headed to Fashion Square Mall to get the heck out of the heat. The drinks were not, in fact, for the road but instead for a little adventurous shopping. We had a few dressing room dance parties, and enjoyed the latest in POS checkout technology. #nerd

Something that lights my heart on fire when I’m with these girls is we always make friends where we go. One stop at Fashion Square was to LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. The moment we walked in, we were greeted by a young man who inquired what brought us in. He told us about himself, how he’s a ballet dancer, and recommended tons of products to us! I told him I really wanted to get a great facial mask and also something to tame down my insane long locks in this heat. He recommended, and I purchased, Mask of Magnaminty and Sea Spray for my hair. The whole place is well done with a beautiful font and the way they display their products. The masks look like they’re displayed at a salad bar on ice. The large wedges of soaps reminded me of the enormous wheels of Gouda cheese in Amsterdam. I fell in love with Lush today after I read their We Believe statement.

After we exhausted all that Fashion Square had, we drove to Scottsdale Quarter to continue our night. A stop at the Apple Store allowed us to get Kate’s a new iPhone and also allowed a little time for Carley to change the backgrounds of multiple devices to showcase a really hot picture of Hugh Jackman.

Dinner took place at True Food. Another Scottsdale staple – incredibly healthy, organic spot. You can order anything and everything on the menu and be 110% satisfied.

I always get the Chicken Chopped Salad. There’s something about the way the manchego cheese, marcona almonds and jicama mixes together that it takes me to my happy place every time. We split the Vegetable Crudités starter – it was like a wonderful garden on ice with fabulous dipping sauces. Really cool presentation – we were impressed.

Katie is friends with a manager and she brought us these delicious honeydew melon vodka cocktails (which we of course, cheers’ed). The back end of the restaurant near the outdoor restroom held this garden, sink washing station that caught my eye in the setting sun. Love True Food, always have, always will.

The end of the evening brought us to a 3-story Restoration Hardware, because let’s be honest, you know there’s going to be some good stuff in there. I only fell in love with 75% of the store. Carley tried out many chairs and we decided this one most resembles her walk-on role in Game of Thrones and thus she had to buy it ($15,000 later….).

As we walked up the flight of stairs, I marveled at these hanging chandeliers inside of bird cages, hung by thick shipyard rope. I need a big house, with tall ceilings, so I can properly hang them. #wishfulthinking

We made friends with the gentleman that greeted us at the entrance, named Brian. He took us on the Grande’ Tour of the store and priced out different couches we laid on. We, of course, knew at this time they were out of our price range but we laughed and he enjoyed chatting with us. He looked up prices on his iPad and we walked through all the different rooms, quickly falling in love with every duvet and medieval spoon we found. We bid Brian a good evening, bought a few little trinkets, and made a swift stop at It’Sugar candy shop for some pineapple gummi bears and chocolate covered oreos.

The evening ended with another hilarious round of Cards Against Humanity.

Carley got in Thursday late night – we spent the evening hours giggling and catching up. On Friday morning, we woke super early to catch Katie’s favorite Orange Theory class at 6:45 with Jesse. I can see the attraction, he was HILARIOUS. Think Will & Grace + muscles + fabulous smile + high-energy fitness. It was somewhere between the second circuit and the side planks when Carley leaned over and said something along the lines of, “You two are insane for liking this.” Needless to say, we were extremely sweaty, spent and ready for some refueling.

Breakfast took place at Daily Dose. We settled on Micheladas. Served as a iced glass of lime juice, a Mexican beer, and a small carafe of tomato juice. Kind of like a beer-garita or sorts. We weren’t entirely impressed. Decisions couldn’t be made on what to order, as everything looked good in our deliriously hungry and sore state of mind, so we decided to share the Banana Bread French Toast, The Hangover Sandwich and the Breakfast Nachos. All of which were delicious and most of which we brought home as leftovers.

After our refuel session, we grabbed a few supplies at Costco. A weekend with your girlfriends requires a few staples. For example, large glass bottles of vodka. The one on the right was purchased, we plan to empty it.

As we walked around Carley began to feel the muscle burn that Orange Theory brings. She spent a bit of time lounging in agony. At Costco… and at home.

We hightailed it home, changed into swimsuits, made a cocktail and beelined for the pool. There wasn’t any laying in the sun, there was strictly underwater lounging… it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Later into the evening, Scott treated us to Oregano’s. We needed to get out of the apartment as the AC isn’t working properly and we were going slightly stir-crazy. It worked out well because a trip to Arizona is.not.complete without dining at Oregano’s. We shared the Vino Bambino salad (UNREAL) – and Uncle Ray’s Sausage & ‘Shrooms pizza. Entire confection. Totally satisfied.

After dinner, it was time to doodle in Paper by FiftyThree and laugh at the good fortune of having close friends.